Obradovich: If Palin runs in Iowa, she can't just flirt

Nov. 29, 2010

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Confession is good for the soul, so here's mine: I skipped Sarah Palin's much-heralded stop in Iowa last weekend.

I was attending the wedding of a good friend. I thought it would be much more satisfying to celebrate a mature relationship than to watch someone flirt, tease and play hard to get.

Judging from the news coverage, Palin intends to keep her 2012 intentions to herself for a while longer. She spoke to a few hundred people for a few seconds each, under heavy security, and with only incidental media access. Those who scored a signature were delighted.

It was not a political event, and it would be unfair to try to project on a Palin campaign the limitations of what was essentially a commercial transaction. But coming after an Iowa political speech in September that also included no media interviews and little public contact, it's natural to speculate about what sort of campaign she might run for the Iowa caucuses.

Mike Huckabee, who won the GOP caucuses in 2008 and isn't ruling out another run, says there's only one way to campaign here: It's essential to face voters one at a time.

"You've got to sit down with people at a dining table that holds no more than four. And you've got to not just talk, and give your stump speech - you've got to listen. And you've got to listen to what an unemployed factory worker is gonna unload on you," he said before a Nov. 20 speech in Des Moines.

Huckabee says the first-caucus and first-primary status certainly benefits Iowa and New Hampshire, but it's also good for America.

"I think that's a healthy thing that a person who wants to be president would hear from people who will never be able to afford a $2,400 ticket to a cocktail reception in Manhattan," he said. "And God help us when we are at the place where the only people who touch the potential presidents are people who can afford the big-ticket events."

I asked Huckabee whether a grass-roots campaign would be as easy for him now that he's a famous cable TV personality as it was when he was just a little-known former Arkansas governor.

"It would be refreshing to do it in a crowd," he joked, but added: "I wouldn't know how to behave in a situation like that. We shall see."

Caucus veterans had all kinds of advice for Palin in a Register story Saturday. Generally, they agreed she would need to find ways to court voters personally despite her rock-star fame. George W. Bush's caucus campaign in 1999-2000 was a prime example.

I remember attending a 1999 Bush campaign event at Water Tower Park in Des Moines. Uniformed Texas rangers provided the security, which included lots of rope lines. Bush gave some very brief remarks, then went to flip pancakes for the cameras while the crowd craned for a glimpse.

I had just started to interview a man standing mid-pack about whether he felt Bush was really making a personal connection with voters. We were interrupted when Bush suddenly appeared next to us, shaking the man's hand and chatting with him.

"Dang, he's good at this," I thought, and crossed out my notes about the event's sterility.

Barack Obama, who won the Democratic caucuses in 2008, found his own way to satisfy the demands of retail politics as a high-profile candidate. He did it in part by breaking some of the unwritten code for the caucuses, such as skipping some traditional cattle calls in favor of his own events.

Palin, if she runs, will write some new rules. But the one about meeting voters at their level should not be cast aside. The caucuses are no casual romance. She would have to give up some of her image control and privacy. But what she would get in return are genuine and unscripted encounters with voters who will challenge her. What she learns will sustain her over the long haul - like a marriage.

Political columnist Kathie Obradovich can be reached at (515) 284-8126 or kobradov@dmreg.com.